Day of the Outlaw is an interesting film to look at the “other” in because it primarily focuses on the alpha male cowboy and his battle with the villain. There are women within the film that do play a somewhat significant part of the plot. The “other” in this film would be Helen Crane, ex lover of Blaise Starrett and current wife of Hal Crane. From the viewer’s point of view, during the film a few women’s issues can be spotted.
The first issue that we can spot is that women are seen as objects. This is very evident when Bruhn and his men first arrive in town. The men of the town however, respect their women. When Bruhn first comes in his gang asks where the women are because they want to have their way with them. Their excuse was that they have been traveling for a long time and needed a break. Pace, a member of Bruhn’s gang, is the person whom most obviously sees women as objects. He pushes for the gang to be able to do what they want with the women. Every chance he gets, he constantly tries to get Ernie to kiss him. The idea that the men were going to do whatever they wanted with the women brings up the idea of rape as well. In the time period that the film was made, rape was something that was still kept hushed in society. Women did not come out and testify against their rapist. It was a very traumatic experience to go through and women did not want to go through it again in the court room.
An issue immediately came into my head when I saw Helen Crane put a move on Blaise and then proceed to initiate a kiss. A woman cheating on her husband was still not accepted within society. It was more acceptable for a man to cheat on his wife. A woman was not supposed to do anything that would jeopardize the family. Another issue that is seen in this film is women are controlled by men. The women do not try to speak up against Bruhn and his men when they gather them up and force them into the room at the store. They also go along with the men’s idea to leave town and walk out in the snow. They do not really have a voice for themselves. They are outnumbered and out powered by Bruhn’s men. In this film, women do not have the power that they have today.
Day of the Outlaw is an interesting film to look at the “other” in because it primarily focuses on the alpha male cowboy and his battle with the villain. There are women within the film that do play a somewhat significant part of the plot. The “other” in this film would be Helen Crane, ex lover of Blaise Starrett and current wife of Hal Crane. From the viewer’s point of view, during the film a few women’s issues can be spotted.
ReplyDeleteThe first issue that we can spot is that women are seen as objects. This is very evident when Bruhn and his men first arrive in town. The men of the town however, respect their women. When Bruhn first comes in his gang asks where the women are because they want to have their way with them. Their excuse was that they have been traveling for a long time and needed a break. Pace, a member of Bruhn’s gang, is the person whom most obviously sees women as objects. He pushes for the gang to be able to do what they want with the women. Every chance he gets, he constantly tries to get Ernie to kiss him. The idea that the men were going to do whatever they wanted with the women brings up the idea of rape as well. The film was made in 1959 and rape legislation did not take place until the 1960’s. In the movie, we see she the women’s frustration with their lack of say in the matter. In the time period that the film was made, rape was something that was still kept hushed in society. Women did not come out and testify against their rapist. It was a very traumatic experience to go through and women did not want to go through it again in the court room.
An issue immediately came into my head when I saw Helen Crane put a move on Blaise and then proceed to initiate a kiss. A woman cheating on her husband was still not accepted within society. It was more acceptable for a man to cheat on his wife. A woman was not supposed to do anything that would jeopardize the family. In the 1950’s both men and women thought that they belonged in the house. After the war, many women went back into the house while the men came back and took over jobs the women had done.
Another issue that is seen in this film is women are controlled by men. The women do not try to speak up against Bruhn and his men when they gather them up and force them into the room at the store. They also go along with the men’s idea to leave town and walk out in the snow. They do not really have a voice for themselves. They are outnumbered and out powered by Bruhn’s men. This shows the struggles that women had been facing in society. In this film, women do not have the power that they have today.